Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Ransom and Damen Cao.
Hi Josh and Damen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
COSMS is an instrumental duo formed, operating, and living in Austin. Individually, we are from very different places. Josh is from Greenfield, IN (a suburb of Indianapolis). Damen is from Shanghai, PRC. Josh was trying to form some post-rock big band with, among other things, two drummers. Damen had seen a post on Craigslist and replied. At the time, she was still in Shanghai and about to relocate to Austin. We met in December 2012 and had a tryout on New Year’s Day of 2013. At the time, we had two guitar players. We’ve since had some others in and out but have been playing as a duo since 2015.
Would it have been a smooth road? If not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced?
Not a smooth one! But it is very smooth in other ways! We’ve had a handful of members in and out in the band’s early days as we were striving to figure out what kind of music we wanted to play and find people to make that happen. In 2014, we were organizing a fundraiser for Love-A-Bull (a bully breed rescue group in Austin) and had a sudden scheduling conflict with our temporary guitar player. Damen suggested that we play the show as a two-piece. We had the gear to do it. So, in two weeks, we played just about every day to rewrite and create new songs as a duo and have been doing it ever since! Since that moment, we have both started families. So, we took breaks when little ones joined our families. But even then, we would send ideas back and forth. Our second duo EP, Vena, was primarily composed of ideas. So when the pandemic hit, we were already used to operating remotely when necessary. It’s not ideal, but it wasn’t a band killer for us like it might have been for some.
I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The fact that we come from different backgrounds yet have so much in common comes through the music. Our approach to the music is unique in and of itself. Josh plays bass guitar with loops and effects, and Damen plays drums, percussion, and synth parts. We are not trying to sound good for a two-piece. We want to make the best music that we feel needs to exist and doesn’t. We have yet to hear the same description of what we do twice. It is hard to describe and is best experienced! Is it rock? Is it jazz? Is it electronic? Yes. And the list goes on. That may be what we are the most proud of. It is hard to box in, but it is a thing unique to itself. We write in odd rhythms and time signatures but often build in a groove or hook. We fit with metal bands but are at home with hip-hop or jazz groups. Those genres are all important ingredients for our sound, so it makes sense.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you, and are there any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
We gained a new appreciation for live performance. Streaming is not a worthy alternative to seeing/performing live music. The terrain was different when things opened back up. Clubs had closed. Other people operated some. Corporations had bought some up. The bands that we used to play with were gone. But from the ashes of those bands came new ones with some of those members. Since we have had many pauses throughout our decade of being a band, we were able to weather the pandemic closures well. We even got a good amount of work done on the latest EP, “Tigers,” when we were remote. When we could meet back up, we had ideas to start with.
Contact Info:
- Website: cosms.bandcamp.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cosmsband
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cosmsatx
Image Credits
Eli Suarez, Genine Packert Short, Kaelin Crowley, Zach Ransom, Brad Ferguson
